My towel cleaning, drying, and dispensing machine for use in washrooms is a novel apparatus which successfully enables freshly cleaned roll fabric toweling to be continuously available as needed by persons using the washroom. Currently available roll towel machines are inconvenient and uneconomical because they require frequent replacement of the soiled towel with a fresh roll. This usually entails a requirment for storage of clean and used towel rolls and periodic transportation of toweling to and from a central laundry facility. In practice, the end of the roll is often arrived at long before replacement is initiated. This unsatisfactory condition has sometimes led to the installation of additional machines in order to enhance the chances that at least one machine will contain clean toweling. Despite these limitations, roll fabric towel machines enjoy widespread use. This is because the user finds fabric towels more comfortable and obtains faster and more complete drying of the skin than with competing means such as paper towels or hot air blowers
Several patents have been granted in recent years for dispensing and automatically laundering roll towels, but the devices of these patents have not found general application because of numerous practical problems. Among these is the expense associated with required water and drain connections, difficulty in obtaining a clean appearance in laundered towels, rapid deterioration of towels, wide variation in the exposed length of clean toweling, and very large and critical power requirements for drying cleaned toweling.
The primary object of this invention therefore is to provide a novel and practical apparatus for automatically and continuously providing cleaned and dried roll toweling. More particularly, it is an object of this invention to provide new and improved roll towel apparatus which utilizes self-contained cleaning means without incurring the need for water supply and drain connections.
Another object of this invention is to provide a towel dispensing and cleaning apparatus in which the toweling does not readily attain a stained and unsightly appearance.
Another object is to provide a towel dispensing and cleaning apparatus in which a suitable length of exposed toweling is always present.
Another object is to provide a towel dispensing and cleaning apparatus in which drying of the cleaned toweling is accomplished in a rapid, safe and economical manner.
Another object is to provide a towel dispensing and cleaning apparatus in which requirements for replenishment of the liquid cleaning vehicle is minimized.
Another object is to provide a towel dispensing and cleaning apparatus in which regeneration of the liquid cleaning vehicle is automatically accomplished.
Still another object is to provide a towel dispensing and cleaning apparatus which contains means for disposing of water imparted to the towel during use by employing vapor phase dispersion.